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A significant study conducted in China and the United Kingdom has revealed that residing near major highways is correlated with an elevated risk of dementia and alterations in brain structure, largely attributed to air pollution from traffic. This research, recently published in Health Data Science, a Science Partner Journal, brings fresh insights into the public health implications of pollution from traffic and its association with dementia, which is a growing global concern.
Lead author Fanfan Zheng, a professor at the School of Nursing, Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, stated, “Previous research had suggested the neurological risks of living near major roads, but the underlying mechanisms were unclear. Our study dives into the connection between residential proximity to major roads and dementia risk, focusing on the role of pollutants linked to traffic.”
The study, characterized by a robust design, scrutinized data from 460,901 participants over a median follow-up period of 12.8 years. Dementia cases were drawn from the UK Biobank and rigorously verified, resulting in a more reliable dataset compared to patient-reported diagnoses. The study also categorized cases by the type of dementia, enabling a thorough analysis.
As an extension of the UK Biobank study, brain MRI scans were performed, uncovering alterations in brain structures associated with Alzheimer’s disease in the pre-symptomatic stage. The study also accounted for genetic risks and other significant factors contributing to dementia.
“Our findings establish a consistent link between residing near heavy traffic and an increased risk of dementia, with traffic-related air pollution, particularly nitrogen dioxide and PM2.5, being the primary culprits,” remarked Wuxiang Xie, associate professor at Peking University Clinical Research Institute, Peking University First Hospital. “This suggests that reducing air pollution could be a viable strategy in reducing the risk of dementia associated with exposure to traffic.”
Interestingly, the study found no correlation between long-term noise pollution from traffic and dementia, in contrast to previous research. Additionally, the study revealed that proximity to traffic was consistently associated with smaller volumes in brain structures linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
“The future focus should be on confirming the impact of reducing pollution from traffic on dementia biomarkers and incidence,” noted Chenglong Li, the study’s first author. “Our ultimate aim is to prevent a significant number of dementia cases at the pre-symptomatic stage by eliminating exposure to heavy traffic and its resulting pollutants.”
